Vowels, Consonants in Marathi and their pronunciation

Please use my new website 


All lessons from this blog and more are available there

In this lesson we will learn pronunciation of alphabets in Marathi

Friends, In the beginning we will write Marathi in English script. So as to enable you to read it, we will decide some conventions for it. 
Note that in some cases there is some difference in pronunciation when capital letter is used in stead of small letter. e.g n/N ; t/T ; d/D 

Go through it once. You may not remember all pronunciation now. But as and when you will use it in sentence, come back to these rule and check it. After few days you will remember it automatically.


Also I have mentioned Devanagari symbols. So later when we will start using Devanagari. you can refer this chart to get the sound for each symbol.

Vowels

Lets start studying Marathi vowels. In Marathi, vowels are added to consonants. Most of them are easy to pronounce, ऋ is slightly challenging. Marathi vowels retain much of their original Sanskrit pronunciation making some of them different from their Hindi counterparts. A notable example is औ (au), pronounced as owl in Marathi but as Oxford in Hindi. ऑ (Ao) is a special vowel used for loan English words, and 
is pronounced as in doctor.


Devanagari
Transliteration used here
Examples
a
as in allow
A
as in hard
i
as in hit
I
as in mean
u
as in put
U
as in hoot
e
as in main
ai
as in fight
o
as in Oh my God
au
as in owl
अं
aM
as sound of "um" in number, sound of "um" as in jum
अः
aH
as “uh” in huh?
अ‍ॅ
~a
as in “bat”
~o
as in O in Oxford
   
Ru          
as “ru” in ruby;“roo” in “roof”


Listen pronunciation of vowels online at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP5XVBjkgQg

or
https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/pronunciation-of-vowels-in-marathi-learn-marathi



Pronunciation of ऋ(Ru) is different in Hindi and Marathi.
In Hindi ऋ(Ru)  is pronounced as रि(ri). Where as in Marathi sound is similar to रु (ru).

Listen pronunciation of ऋ Ru
https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/pronunciation-of-ru-learn-marathi




Consonants
Now lets us learn consonants in Marathi. Many Marathi consonants come in three different forms: aspiratedunaspirated and retroflex.
Aspiration means with a puff of air, and is the difference between the sound of the letter p in English pin (aspirated) and spit (unaspirated). Retroflex consonants, on the other hand, are not really found in English. They should be pronounced with the tongue tip curled back. Practice with a native speaker, or just pronounce as usual — you'll usually still get the message across.


Devanagari
Transliteration
Equivalent/Comments
k
as in skip.
kh
as in sinkhole.
g
as in go.
gh
as in doghouse.
G
as in sing. Used only in Sanskrit loan words, does not occur independently.
ch
as in church.
Ch
as in pinchhit.
j
as in jump.
jh
as in dodge her.
nY
as in canyon. Used only in Sanskrit loan words, does not occur independently.
T
as in tick. Retroflex, but still a hard t sound similar to English.
Th
as in lighthouse. Retroflex
D
as in doom. Retroflex
Dh
as in mudhut. Retroflex
N
retroflex n, as in grand.
t
does not exist in English. more dental t, with a bit of a th sound. Softer than an English t.
th
aspirated version of the previous letter, not as in thanks or the.
d
dental d.
dh
aspirated version of the above d.
n
n in man, pan
p
as in spin.
ph
as in uphill.
b
as in be.
bh
as in abhor.
m
as in mere.
y
as in yet.
r
r in rat
l
as in lean.
v
as in Spanish vaca, between English v and w, but without the lip rounding of an English w.
sh
as in shoot.
Sh
almost indistinguishable retroflex of the above. slightly more aspirated.
s
as in see.
h
as in him.
L
as in Norwegian farlig. Retroflex lateral approximent
क्ष
kSh
As in k + sh
ज्ञ
dny
Pronounced as d + n + y

Listen pronunciation of Consonants at

There are two sounds for symbols च(ch) ज(j) झ (jh) listen them at
or

Listen difference in pronunciation of श(sh) and ष(Sh) at
https://soundcloud.com/kaushik-lele/difference-in-pronunciation-of-sh-and-sh-learn-marathi
or
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WYaMkcSIxM


Listen pronunciation of ळ(L) at
or

Pronunciation of ज्ञ(dny) is different in Hindi and Marathi. Listen this difference at
or



Comments

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks.I would like to hear more from you. Please mail me on learnmarathifast@gmail.com

      Delete
  2. Thank you for your effort!
    Linguistics is my hobby, and I have had a desire for a long time to "bite" one of modern Indo-Aryan languages. I thought about Hindi or Punjabi, but incidentally got inspired by Marathi. Surprisingly there is almost nothing on Marathi. I mean not some word lists or standard phrases for tourists. Your blog is really valuable.

    LangLover


    I am a bit confused with the rule 2 in your lesson above:
    >>‘n’ in English word “much”<<
    Is this a typo?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for appreciation.

      And thanks for bringing mistake to my notice. I have updated it. It should be "munch".

      Would you mind sending me a mail on learnmarathifast@gmail.com
      I generally send update to "students" of my blog whenever I add new lesson. Also knowing about your mother tongue and motivation to learn Marathi will also be interesting.

      - Kaushik

      Delete
    2. Yes, I'll write, just give me some short time.

      Delete
    3. Hi did you send me the mail ? Your name is not mentioned here so don't know if one of the mails which I received is one from you.

      - Kaushik

      Delete
  3. Hi Kaushik, thanks for the work in your blog. I noticed that one of the new swar, representing the sound in the English "bat" is missing, though you have incorporated that for "ball". http://www.omniglot.com/writing/marathi.htm
    Could you add that?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ranajeet, good catch,. I added row for "अ‍ॅ" in the table. Thanks.
      Would you mind sending me a mail on learnmarathifast@gmail.com
      I would like to more from your experience with this blog.

      Delete
  4. thanks. it helps me alot.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Welcome. May I know your name please. Also I would be happy if you could share more detailed feedback to me on learnmarathifast@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. dear kaushik

    fantastic job yar , i am from kerala now ,would like to learn marathi ,its nice to see your blogs
    any how its really helping me to learn marathi

    and i will give you a big salute !! fantabolous JOB

    Rakesh nair

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rakesh,
      Thanks for your appreciation and all the best for your learning.
      What motivated you to learn Marathi ? you can mail me on learnmarathifast@gmail.com

      Delete
  7. Hi Kaushik Lele,

    First, THANK YOU for your blog. It's awesome for me. I'm french, and I decide to learn Marathi because I love so much Swami Samarth Ramdas's Dasbodh. THE KING BOOK for me. I do read this book everyday. But, all books of Swami S.Ramdas is not translate in english, and many saints spoken in Marathi. I think to Nisargadatta Maharaj, Ranjit Maharaj, Shiddharameshwar Maharaj. The good news for me it's that Marathi langage has a pronounciation for vowels very easy for a french native speaker.
    Good continuation !
    Anthony.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are welcome Anthony !! Thanks for detailed comment. You reason to learn Marathi is really interesting. I will like to know more about your Marathi learning through mail.
      Can you please mail me at learnmarathifast@gmail.com

      Waiting for your reply,
      Kaushik

      Delete
    2. Hello,
      Thanks Kaushik ! No problem, we can share that together. My mail is anthony.klopffer@gmail.com for information. Like that, you know that it's me in your box mails. .
      Here, I learn Devanagari, it's gymnastic for my brain to jump of roman letter to Devanagari and to write. I has studied a few sanskrit, I am surprised of few difference in prononciation between Marathi and Sanskrit. I learn sanskrit because I thought that S.Ramdas's Karunshtake was in sanskrit but in analysing the form of letters I sought my mistake.

      Have a good day, Kaushik !

      Anthony.

      Delete
  8. Thank you so much. I used to speak Marathi more than 40 years ago, but I have lost touch. Your lessons are so good, they help a lot. As you pointed out, I have problems with the sounds of cha and ja. I saw one lesson with the possessive forms which explains this, but it would be good to see a list of very common words with these sounds and learn how to pronounce each. If we could use a modified translation in writing the sound in English, it would be even better. For example cha and cha'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vanakkam KannanJi,
      It was nice to read your comment. You have given a nice suggestion of two symbols (cha and cha'). But looks like it is almost difficult to change all blog lessons to specify the transliteration in this way.
      But I have provided YouTube video fir every lesson so a learners should be able to listen correct pronunciation.

      I would like to know more about your Marathi learning and feedback about my blog. Can you please mail me at learnmarathifast@gmail.com

      Thanks,
      Kaushik

      Delete
  9. Hello kaushik jee, can you please tell me what is the meaning of zaali in marathi?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. zaali = became

      May I know your name plz. Are you learning Marathi through my blog ?

      - Kaushik

      Delete
  10. Hello Kaushik, I have a query. the letter अ is omitted in a word. But is it pronounced? ex., in a verb to do. Could you, please, explain little in details. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi,
      I could not clearly understand your question."letter अ is omitted in a word. But is it pronounced". Can you plz elaborate.

      May I know your name plz. Are you learning Marathi using my blog ?

      Delete
  11. You are welcome. Credit goes to Wikipedia.
    May I know your name plz. Are you learning Marathi using my blog ?

    Thanks,
    Kaushik

    ReplyDelete
  12. Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for your appreciation. Are you learning / planning to learn Marathi using my blog ?

      - Kaushik

      Delete
  13. Amazing blog Kaushik. thanks a lot for putting all this valuable information together

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks a lot for appreciation. Are you learning / planning to learn Marathi using my blog ?

      - Kaushik

      Delete
  14. that s very good in learning marathi.but i need to learn more sentence marathi simple present , past and future tense.. help me

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are many lessons with simple sentences and conversation. Refer conversation section on http://learnmarathiwithkaushik.com/
      Please send me an email on learnmarathifast@gmail.com so that we can interact in detail.

      Thanks,
      Kaushik

      Delete

Post a Comment